Brazil Posted Record $4 Billion Trade Deficit in January

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil posted a record trade deficit
in January, as monthly figures surged on the inclusion of oil
imports made at the end of last year.

The trade deficit was $4 billion last month, compared with
a $2.25 billion surplus in December, the Trade Ministry said in
a report published today on its website. Economists forecast a
$3.4 billion deficit, according to the median forecast of 17
economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Tax cuts and record-low interest rates implemented by
President Dilma Rousseff’s administration have spurred domestic
demand in the world’s second-largest emerging market economy.
Brazil’s real is the third-best performer in 2013 among major
currencies, encouraging imports by making goods produced abroad
cheaper. Oil imports from December that weren’t counted until
this month gave the impression of a wider deficit, said Jose
Augusto de Castro, president of Brazil’s foreign trade
association, known as AEB.

“This delay made the volume of oil imports to increase by
53 percent compared to last January,” said Castro in a
telephone interview from Rio de Janeiro. “Still, what we saw
was a larger registry of oil imports, not necessarily higher
imports.”

Exports fell to $16 billion from $19.7 billion in December,
lower than the median forecast of $16.9 billion in a Bloomberg
survey of 10 analysts. Imports rose to $20 billion from $17.5
billion.

Brazil’s economy will expand 3 percent to 4 percent this
year, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Jan. 30. Growth was
expected to have reached 1 percent last year, according to
central bank estimates.